Volume Ii Part 23 (2/2)

INIQUITY. _For no gold will I give her_--

ALL TOGETHER. _Welcome, my honey-a!_

INIQUITY. O my heart! [_Here he speaketh_.

This wench can sing, And play her part.

DALILAH. I am yours, and you mine, with all my heart.

INIQUITY. By the ma.s.s, it is well sung; Were ye not sorry ye were a maid so long?

DALILAH. Fie, master Iniquity, fie, I am a maid yet.

ISMAEL. No, sister, no, your maidenhead is sick.

INIQUITY. That knave your brother will be a blab still, I-wis, Dalilah, ye can say as much by him, if ye will.

DALILAH. By him, quod-a? he hath wh.o.r.es two or three, But ich tell your minion doll,[223] by Gog's body: It skilleth not she doth hold you as much.

ISMAEL. Ye lie falsely, she will play me no such touch.

DALILAH. Not she? Yes, to do your heart good, I could tell you who putteth a bone in your hood!

ISMAEL. Peace, wh.o.r.e, or ye bear me a box on[224] there--

DALILAH. Here is mine ear, knave; strike, and thou dare!

To suffer him thus ye be no man, If ye will not revenge me, I will find one; To set so little by me ye were not wont-- Well, it is no matter; Though ye do, _ceteri nolunt_.

INIQUITY. Peace, Dalilah; speak ye Latin, poor fool?

DALILAH. No, no, but a proverb I learned at school--

ISMAEL. Yea, sister, you went to school, till ye were past grace;--

DALILAH. Yea, so didst thou, by thy knave's face!

INIQUITY. Well, no more a-do, let all this go, We kinsfolk must be friends, it must be so.

Come on, come on, come on, [_He casteth dice on the board_.

Here they be that will do us all good.

ISMAEL. If ye use it long, your hair will grow through your hood.

INIQUITY. Come on, knave, with Christ's curse, I must have some of the money Thou hast picked out of thy father's purse!

DALILAH. He, by the ma.s.s, if he can get his purse, Now and then he maketh it by half the worse.

ISMAEL. I defy you both, wh.o.r.e and knave--

INIQUITY. What, ye princ.o.c.ks, begin ye to rave? Come on--

DALILAH. Master Iniquity, by your leave, I will play a crown or two here by your sleeve.

ISMAEL. Then be ye servant to a wors.h.i.+pful man, Master Iniquity--a right name, by Saint John!

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